His casting in Jean-Marc Vallee's latest was a controversial point within some sects of the LGBTQ community, who denounced the film for not casting an actual transexual actor in Leto's stead. Despite the heat, however, 'Dallas Buyers Club' has been praised by critics and earned lead Matthew McConaughey his first Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Also nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2014 Oscars were Jonah Hill for 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' Barkhad Abdi for 'Captain Phillips,' Bradley Cooper for 'American Hustle' and Michael Fassbender for '12 Years a Slave.'

'Dallas Buyers Club' saw McConaughey portray Ron Woodruff, a Texan-bred man who contracts HIV through his party-hard lifestyle in the 1980s. As AZT, a drug which weakened the body's immune system, was the only approved treatment for the disease at the time, Woodruff went on to smuggle more effective unapproved medicines into the states from Mexico and distributed them to the LGBTQ community by way of a "Dallas Buyers Club." Leto's Rayon was Woodruff's partner in crime who helped sway his homophobic views.